Yesterday, the Senate passed in a 79-13 vote (roll call) legislation (S. 2663) to provide more funding and more authority to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The bill will now need to be reconciled with a House version (H.R. 4040) passed in December.

The bill takes positive steps on several issues Reg•Watch has been blogging about:

Budget and Staff
The Senate bill would infuse the agency with much-needed resources, assuming future congresses appropriate the levels of funding outlined. The bill would nearly double the agency's budget to $156 million by FY 2015. The House bill would bring funding levels to $100 million by FY 2011. (See Graph below for inflation-adjusted forecast.) The Senate bill would also require the agency to employ a staff of at least 500 by the beginning of FY 2014.

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Quorum
The Senate bill would allow CPSC to have a quorum and conduct formal business with only two commissioners for 9 months. The provision is necessary because CPSC's voting quorum has expired as a result of President Bush's refusal to nominate a suitable third commissioner. One of CPSC's three commissioners resigned in 2006. Under the Consumer Product Safety Act, CPSC can continue to conduct formal business with two commissioners for six months. That quorum expired in January 2007, but in August Congress passed legislation extending the quorum another six months. On Feb. 4, the quorum expired again. The House bill would also extend the quorum. Both bills would restore CPSC to a five-member commission.

Lead
Both bills would require CPSC to set tighter standards for lead in children's toys. The bills would call for a standard of 100 parts per million for the content of toys and 90 parts per million for paint or coatings on toys. In 2007, CPSC announced 106 recalls of lead-contaminated products totaling 17,126,810 individual items — a 500 percent increase from 2006.

Industry-funded travel
The Senate bill would ban industry-funded travel for CPSC commissioners. In November, a Washington Post investigation revealed Nord and former Chair Hal Stratton have taken nearly 30 trips financed by some industries that CPSC is responsible for regulating. According to the investigation, "The airfares, hotels and meals totaled nearly $60,000, and the destinations included China, Spain, San Francisco, New Orleans and a golf resort on Hilton Head Island, S.C."

The bill would also protect employees who blow the whistle on dangerous products, and enhance the ability of state attorneys general to enforce product safety laws and regulations when the feds drop the ball. Both of those provisions survived debate on the bill despite significant partisan wrangling.